Anne Milton: What the Skills Minister Said at AELP

Anne Milton: What the Skills Minister Said at AELP

There was some welcome news for apprenticeship providers at the AELP Annual Conference last week, as Anne Milton, the new Skills Minister, announced that the non-levy growth requests will be brought forward to July.

Delivering her first ever speech to the sector, Ms Milton said that the paused tendering round would be scrapped, and rerun in July. She also declared that providers who had made a business case for additional funding following the non-levy allocations would be notified of any changes this week.

Talking about the paused non-levy tender, Ms Milton said: “For many of you this has been a bruising period. I am here to listen and learn and hope also to offer some clarity.”

The Chief Executive of AELP, Mark Dawe, described the announcement as “really welcome”.

Speaking more broadly about her role, Ms Milton said that she would “listen and take notice” of the opinions of the sector, working quickly and efficiently wherever possible. “I am somebody who has absolutely no patience at all, I want everything done yesterday and I will only forgive not doing it yesterday if it’s in an attempt to get it right.”